Mateusz Kapustka

PD Dr. Mateusz Kapustka is a Privatdozent (Private Lecturer) at the Art History Institute of the University of Zurich, specializing in early modern and medieval art history with a focus on image theory, iconoclasm, and transcultural art studies. He has held various academic positions including Acting Professor at Humboldt University of Berlin (2022-2023), Visiting Professor at the University of Poznań (2021) and Free University of Berlin (2019-2020), and Research Assistant at the University of Zurich (2012-2017).

His educational background includes a habilitation from the University of Zurich (2016) with the thesis "Abolition of Time: Middle Ages in the Baroque," a doctorate from the University of Wrocław (2003), and studies in Art History and Philosophy at the University of Wrocław (1993-1998).

Dr. Kapustka's research interests span early modern art history, particularly focusing on image conflicts and anachronisms, transcultural art history (especially between Europe and India), textile studies in art, medieval and Baroque religious imagery, and Silesian art history. His work often explores the intersections between visual culture, religious practice, and historical representation. He examines how textiles function as visual representatives in religious imagery, how anachronisms operate in early modern art, and how image conflicts reflect broader cultural and religious tensions. His research demonstrates a consistent interest in the materiality of images and the ways visual culture mediates historical experience and religious practice.

His publications include the monograph "The Absence of Idols: Image Conflicts and Anachronisms in the Early Modern Period" (2020), which explores how early modern artists and viewers engaged with medieval imagery in ways that challenged linear historical understanding. His research on textile representatives in art examines how cloths and garments function as pictorial metaphors that preserve traces of absent bodies. Recent work has addressed blind spots in art history regarding Ukraine, iconoclasm in the 16th century, and transcultural approaches to art history between Europe and India.

Dr. Kapustka has received research funding for projects including "Shifting Reflections: A Swiss-Indian Research Project on Transcultural Art History" (2021-2022), "Anachronism: Art Historical Perspectives" (2018), and "TEXTILE. An Iconology of the Textile in Art and Architecture" (2009-2016).

He has organized numerous conferences and workshops, including "The Pictorial Evidence of Ruins: From Rome to Homs" (2019), "Falten-Muster: Texturen der Bildlichkeit" (2013), and "Mythmaking Eastern Europe: Art in Response" (2012). In 2022, he co-founded the UA Art Aid Contact Center and Netzwerk Kulturgutschutz Ukraine / Ukraine Art Aid Center in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.